Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur (pronounced: TOO-pahk sha-KOOR; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 - September 13, 1996), better known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper, actor, dancer and poet. He was one of the best-selling music artists of the 1990s and of all time, amassing over 75 million estimated global sales. In 1991, he released his debut studio album 2Pacalypse Now and in 1993, his second album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. He was also involved in the East-Coast-West Coast hip hop feud. On September 13, 1996, Shakur died after being shot 4 times by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 7 that same year. Since Shakur's death, seven more albums have been released, all of which have been certified platinum. Early Life Tupac Amaru Shakur was born Lesane Parish Crooks on June 16, 1971 in the East Harlem neighborhood in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York to Afeni Shakur (born Alice Faye Williams) and Billy Garland, both active Black Panther Party members in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One of the month and 3 days before he was born, his mother was acquitted of all charges, which included "conspiracy against the United States government and New York landmarks". Tupac has a stepbrother named Opreme Shakur, also known by his nickname "Komani", two years his junior. He grew up thinking his father had died and his mother's next partner was Mutulu Shakur, who spent four years at large on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, beginning in 1982. Mutulu is also the father of his half-sister Sekyiwa. Tupac's family moved to Baltimore, the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland. and after finishing his second year at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, he transferred to Baltimore School for the Arts where he met Jada Pinkett (later Jada Pinkett Smith) and studied poetry, acting, jazz, and ballet. Tupac became associated with the Baltimore Young Communist League USA and began dating the daughter of the director of the local chapter of the Communist Party USA. He and his family would once again relocate, this time to Maryland City, California where he attended Tamalpais High School nearby Mill Valley. Career 1987-1993 In 1987, Tupac, focusing on rapping and poetry, went under the name MC New York when starting his career in Baltimore and quickly signed to join the hip hop group Digital Underground. He appeared on two of the group's recording This Is an EP Release (1990) and Songs of the P (1991). Tupac filed a $10 million civil lawsuit against the Oakland Police Department in October 1991, alleging that they brutally beat him up just for jaywalking. Tupac went under the alias 2Pac and signed with Interscope Records and on November 12, 1991, he released his debut album 2Pacalypse Now, which included the track "Brenda's Got a Baby" (which peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard Hot Rap Singles Chart). The album's name is a reference to Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now. When the then-vice president of the United States Dan Quayle condemned his lyrics from his track "Soulja's Story" (which rapped about police brutality), 2Pac stated that he felt he had been misunderstood. On February 16, 1993, 2Pac released his second album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., which did better than his previous album both critically and commercially. The album featured the singles "I Get Around" which features Shock G and Money-B from Digital Underground, and "Keep Ya Head Up". It went platinum and sold more than a million copies. 2Pac starred in the 1992 urban crime drama film Juice where he played Roland Bishop, a violent member of the Wrecking Crew. In 1993, he starred in Poetic Justice ''where he played Lucky, the love interest of Janet Jackson's character Justice. 1993-1995 He was set to play a lead role in the 1993 teen hood drama film ''Menace II Society, however, he got into a fight with co-director Allen Hugues. This resulted in an assault charge and 15 days in prison. 2Pac played a drug dealer named Birdie in the 1994 sports film Above the Rim and also auditioned for the role of Bubba in Forrest Gump, however, he lost to Mykelti Williamson. He would later audition for the role of Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, but due to his passing in 1996, the role went to Samuel L. Jackson. On March 15, 1995, while in prison, 2Pac released his third album Me Against the World, which featured the singles "Dear Mama", "So Many Tears", and "Temptations". The record hit number one on the US Billboard 200, making him the first artist to achieve this while serving a prison sentence. In April that same year, he married Keisha Morris, but later divorced in March 1996. 1995-1996 In October 1995, 2Pac signed with Suge Knight's Death Row Row Records was released from prison and formed a group called the Outlawz (formerly known as the Outlaw Immortalz). On February 13, 1996, he released his fourth album All Eyez on Me, which was his first double-length album. The album featured the singles "California Love" (which is 2Pac's most popular song" and went on the US Billboard Hot 100), "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted", "How Do U Want It" (which also went on the Billboard Hot 100), "Life Goes On" and "I Ain't Mad at Cha". The album sold 5 million copies and had been certified five times double platinum by the end of 1996, and would eventually become diamond certified. On June 4, 1996, 2Pac released a diss track titled "Hit 'Em Up", which aims at his former friend-turned rival The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls and several other East Coast rappers. In the song, he claims to have had sex with Biggie's wife Faith Evans. He starred in the 1996 crime-drama film Bullet, where he played Tank. Death On September 7, 1996, at night, 2Pac and Suge Knight attended a Mike Tyson vs. Bruce Seldon boxing match in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand. Later that night in a drive-by-shooting, 2Pac was shot by four .40 caliber rounds from a Glock 22: two in the chest, pelvis, right hand, and thigh inside Knight's 1996 black BMW 750iL. On September 13, 1996, six days after the shooting, he sadly passed away from internal bleeding and was pronounced dead at 4:03 p.m. (Pacific Time Zone). On November 5, 1996, nearly 3 months after Pac's death, his fourth album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory was released under his new stage name Makaveli, after the Italian Renaissance poet, political philosopher and writer Niccolo Machiavelli. 2Pac's body was cremated and his ashes were apparently mixed with cannabis and smoked by members of the Outlawz. However, in a 2014 interview, E.D.I. Mean claimed that he later found out that the ashes didn't really belong to 2Pac. After His Death In a 2002 Los Angeles Times article called "Who Killed Tupac Shakur?", investigative reporter Chuck Phillips pointed to the Southside Crips member Orlando Anderson as the main suspect. Others have pointed at The Notorious B.I.G., Pac's rival, and even his close business associate Suge Knight. Anderson and B.I.G. denied any role in the murder. Why His Songs Rocked #His beats are phenomenal. #The lyrics of his songs are amazing and some of them deal with serious topics very well, such as teen pregnancy, racism, and drug trafficking. #His flow is great. #His music videos are amazing and detailed, especially the one for his posthumously released song "Hail Mary". #He has collaborated with really good rappers like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and his former friend-turned rival The Notorious B.I.G.. also known as Biggie Smalls or just Biggie. #He rapped with an awesome voice. #He was a great actor and starred in great films like Juice from 1992. #He had some very inspirational quotes such as "Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real" and "Don't change on me. Don't extort me unless you intend to do it forever". #He was a great storyteller. #His song "Hit 'Em Up" (a diss track aimed at The Notorious B.I.G., Mobb Deep and several other East Coast rappers) is amazing and widely considered to be one of the best diss tracks ever made. #He has helped influence many music artists including Nas, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole. #He did great on features. #His album covers are really good. #His live perfomances were phenomenal. #The now-defunct record label he was on Death Row had many good artists signed such as Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Nate Dogg. #He could do many different styles of music. #His group Thug Life was great. His Bad Qualities # He had many legal issues and served a prison sentence for sexual assault. Legacy Tupac Shakur is widely regarded as one of the greatest, if not the greatest rapper of all time. He, since his death has become an international martyr, a symbol on the level of Bob Marley and Che Guevara, whose life has inspired "2Pacistas" on the streets of Brazil, memorial murals in the Bronx and Spain, and bandana-wearing youth gangs in South Africa. There are also statues of him in Atlanta and Germany. In late 2003, Afeni Shakur, 2Pac's mother launched the Makaveli Branded Clothing line and in 2005, Death Row released the Live at the House of Blues live album. He appeared on the Coachella Music Festival as a "hologram" in 2012, performing his songs "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" and "Hail Mary" with Snoop Dogg. However, it wasn't actually a hologram, it was more of a 2-D video projection. BET ranked Pac at no. 1 on their list of "The Most Influential Rappers of All Time". In the 2017 biopic All Eyez on Me, Pac was portrayed by Demetrius Shipp Jr. The film was released on his 46th birthday on June 16, 2017 and it received mostly negative reviews. Discography Studio Albums *''2Pacalypse Now'' (1991) *''Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z'' (1993) *''Me Against the World'' (1995) *''All Eyez on Me'' (1996) *''The Don Killuminati'' (1996) *''R U Still Down? (Remember Me)'' (1997) *''Until the End of Time'' (2001) *''Better Dayz'' (2002) *''Loyal to the Game'' (2004) *''Pac's Life'' (2006) Compilation Albums *''Greatest Hits'' (1998) *''The Rose That Grew from Complete'' (2000) *''The Prophet: The Best of the Works'' (2003) *''Nu-Mixx Klazzics'' (2003) *''Tupac: Resurrection'' (2003) *''The Rose, Vol. 2'' (2005) *''The Prophet Returns'' (2005) *''Beginnings: The Lost Tapes 1988-1991'' (2007) *''Nu-Mixx Kazzicks Vol. 2'' (2007) *''Best of 2Pac'' (2007) Live Albums *''2Pac Live'' (2004) *''Live at the House of Blues'' (2005) Collaboration Albums *''Thug Life: Volume 1'' with Thug Life (1994) *''Still I Rise'' with Outlawz (1999) Sountrack Albums *''Nothing but Trouble'' (1991) *''Juice'' (1992) *''Poetic Justice'' (1993) *''Above the Rim'' (1994) *''Gridlock'd'' (1997) *''Gang Related'' (1997) Extended Plays *''Makaveli & Dillinger Don't Go 2 Sleep'' (2001) Trivia *He was renamed after the late 18-century Peruvian revolutionary Tupac Amaru II, who was executed after leading an indigenous peoples of the Americas uprising against the Spanish rule. The name Tupac Amaru means "shining serpent" and Shakur means "thankful to god" in Arabic. *He was friends with Marlon Wayans, Jim Carrey, Rosie Perez, Mike Tyson and Chuck D. *He was 176 centimeters tall. *He was a deist. *His father is believed to be descended from the Turaeg people, a large African ethnic confederation who prinicpally inhabit in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. *There are conspiracy theorists who claim 2Pac didn't die from a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, but he faked his own death and was hiding in Cuba for 22 years. Other theorists claim 2Pac is living in Somalia. *Marion "Suge" Knight Jr., the son of Marion "Suge" Knight", claims 2Pac is alive and is living in Malaysia. He also posted a video of a man who looks very similar to Pac. 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